News and Announcements

Ten Questions for Dr. Gary Small

Alzheimer’s is a topic of huge concern — in the past month alone, more than 5,000 news stories mentioned the disease, according to Google. But given that Alzheimer’s is genetic and there’s no cure, doesn’t all this attention just make people worry and feel helpless?

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Previous news and announcements

Food and Spices for Brain Health

Healthy brain nutrition does not just mean going on a weight-loss diet; it involves changing the way we think about food. We should stop just focusing on trying to lose weight, but aim instead for a new goal – to eat the kinds of foods that protect our bodies and our brains. This means getting the right vitamins and nutrients to nourish the organs and cells of the body. Scientific evidence points to some foods that promote brain health and others that are best to avoid.

Positive Effects of Omega-3 fatty acids and some vitamins

Dr. Gary Small, Parlow-Solomon Professor on Aging, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and director of the UCLA Longevity Center, was quoted Dec. 28 in a MyHealthDaily.com article about research suggesting that elderly people with high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids and some vitamins do better in cognitive tests than people with lower levels. The story was picked up by Fox News.com and MSNBC. Small also was interviewed Dec. 26 by ESPN about how the Internet and technology have led to shorter attention spans, which may influence interest in sports like cricket that can require five days to complete a match.

Imaging technique IDs plaques, tangles in brains of severely depressed older adults

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the elderly, but little is known about the underlying biology of its development in older adults. In a small study published in the November issue of the peer-reviewed journal Archives of General Psychiatry, UCLA researchers used a unique brain scan to assess the levels of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in older adults with a type of severe depression called major depressive disorder (MDD). Previous research has suggested that plaque and tangle deposits in the brain — hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease and many dementias — are associated not only with memory loss but also with mild symptoms of depression and anxiety in middle-aged and older individuals. The team wanted to see what the brain-scanning technique developed at UCLA would find in older people with MDD.

UCLA memory fitness program improves memory abilities of oldest adults

Who hasn't forgotten someone's name, misplaced their glasses or walked into a room and not remembered why they entered? Normal age-related memory decline affects more than half of all seniors, and those over 80 are the most vulnerable. A new UCLA study has found that a memory fitness program offered to older adults in their senior living communities helped improve their ability to recognize and recall words, benefitting their verbal learning and retention.